How Star Wars Conquered the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of a Multibillion Dollar Franchise

In
How Star Wars Conquered the Universe, veteran journalist Chris Taylor traces the series from the difficult birth of the original film through its sequels, the franchise’s death and rebirth, the prequels, and the preparations for a new trilogy. Taylor provides portraits of the friends, writers, artists, producers, and marketers who labored behind the scenes to turn Lucas’s idea into a legend.

The original
Star Trek series debuted in 1966 and has spawned five TV series spin-offs and a dozen feature films, with an upcoming one from Paramount arriving in 2016.
The Fifty-Year Mission is a no-holds-barred oral history of five decades of Star Trek, told by the people who were there. Hear from the hundreds of television and film executives, programmers, writers, creators, and cast as they unveil the oftentimes shocking story of Star Trek's ongoing 50-year mission.

Judge Dredd: Year One: Omnibus

Mega-City One, 2080. Judge Joe Dredd's first year on the streets as a full-eagle Judge. Bred for justice, trained in law, Dredd's no helpless rookie, but he's not the seasoned veteran we know either. Three tales follow the first adventures of the future city's greatest lawman. With an introduction by the Mighty Tharg!

The Princess Diarist

When Carrie Fisher recently discovered the journals she kept during the filming of the first Star Wars movie, she was astonished to see what they had preserved - plaintive love poems, unbridled musings with youthful naiveté, and a vulnerability that she barely recognised. Today her fame as an author, actress, and pop culture icon is indisputable, but in 1977 Carrie Fisher was just a teenager with an all-consuming crush on her costar.

The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From the Next Generation to J. J. Abrams is an incisive, no-holds-barred oral history telling the story of post-Original Series Star Trek, told exclusively by the people who were there, in their own words - sharing the inside scoops they've never told before, unveiling the oftentimes shocking true story of the history of Star Trek, and chronicling the trials, tribulations, and tribbles that have remained deeply buried secrets until now.

The Long Hard Road out of Hell

When this best-selling autobiography was originally released, everyone was shocked:
The Long Hard Road Out of Hell was the darkest, funniest, most controversial and best-selling rock book of its time - and it became the template, both visually and narratively, for almost every rock book since. Marilyn Manson is not just a music icon, it turned out, but one of the best storytellers of his generation.

Fire and Fury

The first nine months of Donald Trump's term were stormy, outrageous - and absolutely mesmerising. Now, thanks to his deep access to the West Wing, best-selling author Michael Wolff tells the riveting story of how Trump launched a tenure as volatile and fiery as the man himself. In this explosive audiobook, Wolff provides a wealth of new details about the chaos in the Oval Office.

Thrawn: Alliances (Star Wars)

The sequel to
New York Times best seller
Thrawn,
Thrawn: Alliances will continue to follow the rise of Grand Admiral Thrawn to the heights of Imperial power - and accompany him into the past, witnessing his first encounter with the man who will one day become Darth Vader.

What Does This Button Do?

Pioneers of Britain's nascent rock and metal scene back in the late 1970s, Iron Maiden smashed its way to the top, thanks in no small part to the high-octane performances, operatic singing style and stage presence of its second but twice-longest-serving lead singer, Bruce Dickinson. As Iron Maiden's front man - first from 1981 to 1993, and then from 1999 to the present - Dickinson has been, and remains, a man of legend.

Going Off Alarming: The Autobiography: Vol 2

Danny Baker's first volume of autobiography, Going to Sea in a Sieve, was a Sunday Times best seller, acclaimed for its nonstop humour and anecdotal flourish. It told the exploits of Danny's extraordinary childhood and the wild living of his teenage years. Now he is 25, and it is 1982, and he embarks on an accidental and anxiety-induced career in television - going off alarming.

Stanley Kubrick and Me: Thirty Years at His Side

Stanley Kubrick, the director of a string of timeless movies from Lolita and Dr. Strangelove to A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Full Metal Jacket, and others, has always been depicted by the media as the Howard Hughes of filmmakers, a weird artist obsessed with his work and privacy to the point of madness. But who was he really?

Marvel Comics: The Untold Story

Throughout this decades-long journey to becoming a multibillion-dollar enterprise, Marvel's identity has continually shifted, careening between scrappy underdog and corporate behemoth. As the company has weathered Wall Street machinations, Hollywood failures, and the collapse of the comic book market, its characters have been passed along among generations of editors, artists, and writers - also known as the celebrated Marvel "Bullpen".

Into the Void: Star Wars Legends (Dawn of the Jedi)

On the planet Tython, the ancient Je’daii order was founded. And at the feet of its wise Masters, Lanoree Brock learned the mysteries and methods of the Force - and found her calling as one of its most powerful disciples. But as strongly as the Force flowed within Lanoree and her parents, it remained absent in her brother, who grew to despise and shun the Je’daii, and whose training in its ancient ways ended in tragedy. Now, from her solitary life as a Ranger keeping order across the galaxy, Lanoree has been summoned by the Je’daii Council on a matter of utmost urgency.

Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave!: 2000AD and Judge Dredd: The Secret History

As 2000AD and Judge Dredd celebrate their 40th birthday in 2017, Pat Mills at last writes the definitive history of the Galaxy's Greatest Comic and the turbulent, extraordinary and exciting events that shaped it. The story begins in a garden shed in Scotland sometime in 1971...Pat Mills is the creator of 2000AD and one of the comic's top writers.

Viking Britain: An Exploration

A new narrative history of the Viking Age, interwoven with exploration of the physical remains and landscapes that the Vikings fashioned and walked: their rune stones and ship burials, settlements and battlefields. To many, the word Viking brings to mind red scenes of marauders from beyond the sea rampaging around the British coastline in the last gloomy centuries before the Norman Conquest. And it is true that Britain in the Viking Age was a turbulent, violent place. This is not, however, the whole story.

Slugfest: Inside the Epic, 50-Year Battle Between Marvel and DC

Over the years, the companies have deployed an arsenal of schemes in an attempt to outmanoeuvre the competition, whether it be stealing ideas, poaching employees, planting spies, ripping off characters or launching price wars. Sometimes the feud has been vicious, at other times, more cordial. But it has never completely disappeared, and it simmers on a low boil to this day.

Jim Henson

Innovator. Genius. Legend. Jim Henson was a talent like no other. The iconic characters he created - Kermit the Frog, Bert and Ernie, Miss Piggy, Big Bird - made Jim Henson a household name. But they were just a part of his remarkable story. Now, in this extraordinary biography, written with the generous cooperation of the Henson family, Jim’s life is given full rein: his vibrant imagination, winning sense of humour, and infectious enthusiasm.

I'm the Man: The Story of That Guy from Anthrax

I'm the Man is the fast-paced, humorous, and revealing memoir from the man who cofounded Anthrax, the band that proved to the masses that brutality and fun didn't have to be mutually exclusive. Through various lineup shifts, label snafus, rock 'n' roll mayhem, and unforeseen circumstances galore, Scott Ian has approached life and music with a smile, viewing the band with deadly seriousness while recognizing the ridiculousness of the entertainment industry.

Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man

Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner first crossed paths as actors on the set of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Little did they know that their next roles, in a new science-fiction television series called Star Trek, would shape their lives in ways no one could have anticipated. In 79 television episodes and six feature films, they grew to know each other more than most friends could ever imagine.

To Pixar and Beyond

One day in November 1994, Lawrence Levy received a phone call out of the blue from Steve Jobs, whom he'd never met, offering him a job running Pixar, a little-known company that had already lost Jobs $50 million. With Pixar's prospects looking bleak, it was with some trepidation that Levy accepted the position. After a few weeks he discovered that the situation was even worse than he'd imagined.

Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders

Prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial Vincent Bugliosi held a unique insider's position in one of the most baffling and horrifying cases of the 20th century: the cold-blooded Tate-LaBianca murders carried out by Charles Manson and four of his followers. What motivated Manson in his seemingly mindless selection of victims, and what was his hold over the young women who obeyed his orders? Now available for the first time in unabridged audio, the gripping story of this famous and haunting crime is brought to life by acclaimed narrator Scott Brick.

So, Anyway...: The Autobiography

John Cleese describes his nerve-racking first public appearance, at St Peter's Preparatory School at the age of eight and five-sixths; his endlessly peripatetic homelife, with parents who seemed incapable of staying in any house for longer than six months; his first experiences in the world of work, as a teacher who knew nothing about the subjects he was expected to teach; his hamster-owning days at Cambridge; and his first encounter with the man who would be his writing partner for over two decades, Graham Chapman.

The Age of Bowie

Respected arts commentator Paul Morley, one of the team who curated the highly successful retrospective exhibition for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, David Bowie Is..., constructs the definitive story of Bowie that explores how he worked, played, aged, structured his ideas, invented the future, and entered history as someone who could and would never be forgotten.

Creativity Inc.

As a young man, Ed Catmull had a dream: To make the world’s first computer-animated movie. He nurtured that dream first as a Ph.D. student at the University of Utah, where many computer science pioneers got their start, and then forged an early partnership with George Lucas that led, indirectly, to his founding Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter in 1986. Nine years later and against all odds, Toy Story was released, changing animation forever.

Publisher's Summary

Star Wars is one of the most important cultural phenomena of the Western world. The tale of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and the fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker has become modern myth, an epic tragedy of the corruption of a young man in love into darkness, the rise of evil, and the power of good triumphing in the end. But it didn't start out that way. In this thorough account of one of cinema's most lasting works, Michael Kaminski presents the true history of how Star Wars was written, from its beginnings as a science fiction fairy tale to its development over three decades into the epic we now know, chronicling the methods, techniques, thought processes, and struggles of its creator. For this unauthorized account, he has pored through over 400 sources, from interviews to original scripts, to track how the most powerful modern epic in the world was created, expanded, and finalized into the tale an entire generation has grown up with.

I have to agree with other comments about the extreme repetition in the book but don't let that put you off.

This book is a great critical appraisal of the films. It doesn't kiss Lucas butt and is openly critical but at the same time this obviously written by a fan and it makes you want to watch the movies again. The analysis of Phantom Menance is interesting- basically a movie which could be edited into a much better product (ironically the same could be said of this book)

it is a stunning piece of in depth research which gives you a great idea of the creative process of moviemaking.

A really relevant read in light of the new Force Awakens movie. Look forward to a better edited version of the book to include the new movies

As many people have noted, this is a book for the diehards. It is long. It is detail packed. It is repetitious, It is exhaustive in every sense of the word. And, to be blunt, it's an awful lot of words to say what anyone who has followed the Star Wars franchise since the early days already knows: George Lucas never really had a master plan and has been making it up or modifying the past (retcon, as the author helpfully defines multiple times) as he sees fit since the beginning.That said, the research here is very impressive. Kaminiski has really done his homework, a chore which can't have been too easy given the contradictions of the mountains of Star Wars info available and the way Lucas plays things close the the vest, letting out only what hewants you to know at that time. It's fascinating to hear the script changes or Lucas's own words changing over time. And its fun, and a bit frustrating, to see how Lucas twisted the franchise into a pretzel to fit whatever his vision was that week.But, I have to admit, this book wore me out. Maybe I'm not an uber fan, just a fanatic? There were only so many times I could hear essentially similar information about this change or that. The minutia is impressive, but overwhelming at times. Still, if you want to know exactly how we got from the original 1977 movie to the whole universe it is today, I doubt you'll find a better resource.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Virginia

Raleigh, NC, United States

04/06/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"A wonderful and in depth look"

I thought this book as fascinating and the performance was wonderful. It was a very unique and in depth look at all of the movies out so far

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

kalei

VANCOUVER, WA, United States

20/11/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"A must-listen for hardcore fans!"

Casual fans need not bore themselves with this book, but any "Star Wars Nerd" type fan (you know, the ones who know the difference between the remastered movies and the originals, the ones who are obsessed with Bobba Fett, or who belong(ed) to the 501st legion etc) should read/listen to this book. Then watch the movies (with and without commentary) again. That's all I'm going to say.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Troy

DALLAS, TX, United States

09/07/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"Repetitive, but Thorough"

This would have been a 5 star work, save for the extreme repetition of facts. Ironically, the author thanks his editor up front, who probably should have been fired. This is such an issue that it probably could have reduced the size of the book by a third without loss of content.

That said, this book is a wonderful companion work to J. W. Rinzler's equally incredible "Making of" volumes. This work covers the creative story development of the 6-film saga in full in such a way that no stone is left unturned, and gives us insights into the lives of the people involved, especially that of creator George Lucas. This work is so detailed that it breaks down every single version of the scripts, stage by stage. In this regard, this book is an absolute MUST for the die-hard uber-fans of the Galaxy Far, Far Away.

Not covered are the technical aspects, such as special effects, sound effects, or the musical scores.

What is casually glossed over in the history is the infamous 1978 Holiday Special. There is some basic information on the Ewok movies as well as the Droids and Ewoks cartoon series, but nothing in-depth for these either.

One point of weirdness: the narrator attempts impersonations of the various people who are quoted in interviews or various characters quoted in scripts. Some of these are passable and even respectable, and others are so far off base so as to be screwball if you know what the person is supposed to sound like.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Brian C.

Chardon, OH

23/04/17

Overall

Performance

Story

"George Lucas got lucky"

This book shows how someone can stumble on to something. His fortunes in the Star Wars saga were not some grand plan but more like a squirrel accidentally finding a nut. A statistical anomaly was his journey even though he has convinced many that he is some intellectual. In the end this was insightful.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Zoltan

09/02/17

Overall

Performance

Story

"Star Wars Bible"

A must to read for all SW fan: the real story about the creation and alteration of the saga. The only issue the book several times repeat itself, with proper editing could it be shortened to half, - but the amazing performance helps to get over.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

MC

06/01/17

Overall

Performance

Story

"Truly in depth and exhaustive research"

A truly in depth analysis on the history and evolution of Star Wars that over the years has gone through some incorrect revisionist history.

Narration was awesome and exciting to listen too with voice caricatures spot on. I felt like I was listening to a documentary.

Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Ryan Baumbach

14/09/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Fascinating and comprehensive review of the creative process of the story/plot of the Star Wars canon"

Wonderful performance by Josh Robert Thompson. Was that really he who was doing Lucas' voice?

A really informative look at the formative and often fluid past of Star Wars and its many incarnations of scripts and storylines. This is a must for any Star Wars zealot who wants to look at these movies through an open mind an eye. Loved hearing the synopses of the different drafts (especially of the many of Star Wars) that Lucas, Brackett, Kasdan, etc wrote over the years. This being bracketed by the story of Lucas' personal life versus his quest to get these movies made.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

M. Stephen Garrett

19/04/17

Overall

Performance

Story

"It's Fine"

The parts of the book where the actual script development is being reviewed is great! However, the authors analysis is poor and dragged out at best, and being an audio book they are difficult to flip through. Entire passages are repeated more than once throughout the book (not including the appendices). This is the only time I've ever felt there should be a special Revised and Re-Edited Edition for audio version.This is not to say I didn't enjoy most of it, but there were large parts that were very frustrating to get through.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Jay G.

Phoenix, AZ

05/07/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"Swashbuckling Fun!"

It was a little nerdier than I was expecting. There was some good background on Lucas and his wife that was very interesting but it's mostly "Lucas wrote this 30 years ago and now says that and this fan newsletter contradicts him in this way....blah blah blah." There was a lot of good info but it was divided by long boring meaningless story as well. The one thing that I couldn't stop laughing at is how many times the author used the word "swashbuckling." I actually turned it into a drinking game :)

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

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